Rick and Bevs Blog

Good News!

2009-01-26T07:27:00.000-08:00

Good news! My Dad was released from the hospital on Saturday and he is back home in St George. He will have some occupational therapy and rehab, but should be back to 100% soon.

I also wanted to share something that really touched my heart. When we came home from vacation, we received a stack of condolence cards that had been sent to Murray PD. Several of them contained donations, all of them very much appreciated but there were a few in particular that touched my heart in a very special way.

There were 3 envelopes from a Murray Detective, 1 from him and 2 from his kids. Cassidy is only twelve years old and she gave my family what must have been her entire savings because it was more money than most twelve year olds have at one time. And her little sister Carly who is only ten, contributed several dollars plus change, probably her savings as well. When I opened up those envelopes my heart just swelled, I smiled, then I cried, totally overwhelmed by emotion at the selflessness and generosity of this family. Those sweet girls didn't know Rick or my family, but they wanted to help anyway.
THANK YOU! Cassidy, Carly and their Dad.

There was another card with a donation from a very sweet lady from Vernal whom we don't know and she probably doesn't know us. I just kind of get the feeling that she may not have much money, but she wanted to do what she could for us. Margaret in Vernal you brightened my day. THANK YOU SWEETIE!

And once again, I find myself wanting to thank Brian for his ongoing support without which I would no doubt be in a padded room by now. Also, thanks to Kerri and Heather for helping me with all the miserable paperwork stuff that makes me cry every time I even think about it.

I'm getting great emotional support from some very special people. I started to list off names of my friends and family who have been here for me no matter what, but then I changed my mind and decided that...
you know who you are...Thanks!

Go Cardinals! Go Kurt Warner!!

Dads surgery

2009-01-21T20:21:00.000-08:00

I am happy to say that my Dads surgery went as well as possible. He feels better and his vision has improved. He seemed to be in good spirits tonight and is expected to make a full recovery and if all goes well, he should be out of the hospital Friday and may be going back home Saturday :)

Vacation

2009-01-20T16:00:00.000-08:00

We returned home from Palm Springs Jan 10th and we all went back to work and/or school Monday Jan 12th. The vacation felt pretty empty and it was a real effort to make ourselves do things. We did manage to have a little fun but mostly we just relaxed in the sun and floated along the lazy river, the Worldmark Property there is very beautiful and we will probably go back sometime.

I miss my friends and would really like to see you guys soon, but it's very hard to be social because my moods swing so quickly....and I know everyone understands that. I'm doing ok for now...just need time...alot of time :/

Some of you already know that my Dad had a severe stroke last week and he was Life-Flighted up here from St George. He is currently in stable condition right now, but still in ICU, and he is scheduled for Angioplasty surgery tomorrow. I will update just as soon as we know anything after surgery tomorrow. Please pray that everything goes well!

Thanks for reading and being our friends...

Time for an update

2009-01-01T19:11:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends

I just wanted all of you to know that the kids and I are doing OK. As well as can be expected anyway. I am currently staying at my Dad's in St. George with my 3 youngest kids, Brandon, Jared and Breanna. We will be joined by my two oldest boys Derrick and Danny tomorrow and we will then be spending a week in sunny, warm Palm Springs, CA. It is a vacation that we had planned before Rick's illness and with a little deliberation on the day of Rick's passing, we decided to go ahead with the vacation as planned. The kids and I think that Rick would have wanted us to go.

FYI, my phone has been temporarily suspended, however I can receive calls and text messages but I can't call out or reply to text, so don't think I'm avoiding you if you don't hear from me for a while. I'll get it straightened out when I get back after Jan 12th.

My sister Teri had planned her wedding in Las Vegas for the same day as the funeral and unfortunately she ended up having to reschedule it so that she could be there for me. I want her to know how much I appreciate her unselfishness and the sacrifice she made for me in my time of need. I ended up going to her wedding and it was absolutely beautiful. Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Ray Howe. I also want to thank my sister Janet for coming to my side from Denver as soon as possible and supporting me during the most difficult days after Rick's passing. I love my sisters and my dad.

I also want to say thank you to all my friends who came by in the days following the funeral to give us comfort. Visiting and playing games seemed to help distract us just a little when we needed it most.

Thank you so very much to all the Officers from all over the state of Utah who showed so much respect and honor for Rick. Even though it was the saddest day we will ever know, it truly was an overwhelming, amazing and inspirational day and I do feel that Rick was there in spirit and that he was at peace and felt the love overflowing throughout the day and I'm sure it was exactly what he would have wanted. Thanks again and again Brian.

And of course, I really want to let every last person who attended Rick's funeral know just how much it meant to me and the kids that you were there. Even though I was "hiding" in my sorrow and I didn't really "see" most of you, in my heart I know that you were there. It was the saddest, worst day of our lives and yet we felt an overwhelming sense of love and support from everyone there.

And to my dearest Rick, I KNOW in my heart that you are in a better place and I WILL see you again. Until then my sweetie, wait for me and rest in peace baby.

Obituary

2008-12-21T17:52:00.000-08:00

Richard (Rick) Sterling DuKatz

(April 27, 1962 - December 18, 2008)

Our Hero”

Richard Sterling DuKatz, 46, of West Jordan, died at his home on December 18, 2008. Rick, a decorated Murray City Police Officer, was a devoted and loving husband, father, friend, coworker, and community member. Rick was looking forward to his retirement in May of next year and the opportunity to spend more time with his wife Beverly, his five children and grandson. These plans tragically changed in October of 2008 when he was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer caused by exposure to meth labs in the line of duty.

Rick was born in Minneapolis, MN on April 27, 1962, the son of James Gerald DuKatz and Faye Viola DuKatz. Rick married the love of his life Beverly Diane Harvey on November 9, 1985. Rick graduated from Bingham High School in 1980 and earned an Associates degree in Criminal Justice from Salt Lake Community College in August of 2001.

Rick’s career in law enforcement started in 1985 as a Constable and then a Reserve Officer for the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the South Jordan Police Department. He was hired as a full-time Patrol Officer for the South Jordan Police Department. He then began working at the Murray City Police Department in 1990. He served as a K-9 officer, a Community Oriented Policing Officer, and spent ten years on the Murray SWAT team. He also spent three years with the DEA Metro Narcotics Task Force as a Narcotics Detective. Most recently he confronted the most difficult job for any cop by working as a Child Abuse Detective. Rick received the Purple Heart in 1992 for injuries sustained in the line of duty, and was recently honored with the Chief’s Star Award for his outstanding work as a Homicide Detective. He also received 6 Division Commander Awards and several other achievement awards.

Rick was loved for his sharp wit and his fun outlook at life. Rick enjoyed fixing and racing cars, specifically Camaro’s, and going for rides with his wife on his Harley. He belonged to the Peacemakers Motorcycle Club. Friends were a priority to Rick, and the Dukatz home is often overflowing with friends. However, his greatest passion in life was his wife and family.

He is survived by his wife of 23 years, Beverly DuKatz; his daughter, Breanna; four sons, Derrick, Danny, Brandon, Jared; and grandson, Braden. He is also survived by his parents, James Gerald DuKatz and Faye Viola DuKatz; sister, Kathryn (DuKatz) Jensen (Clifford); brothers, Donald DuKatz (Margaret New) and David Thomas DuKatz (Susan Prince).

A viewing will be held at Murray High School at 5440 S. State St. on Friday December 26th from 6:00 to 8:00pm. His funeral will be held at Murray High School on Saturday December 27th at 11:00am. Interment will follow at the Murray City Cemetery at 5490 S. Vine St.

The Dukatz family wishes to thank Brian Wiseman, Jake Huggard, and many other friends, family and strangers for their ongoing support, prayers, and kindness.

Memorial donations may be sent to: The Murray City Police Department, care of the DuKatz family, at: 5025 S. State, Murray, UT 84107K

Goodbye, We Love You

2008-12-18T12:15:00.001-08:00

Rick DuKatz passed away in his sleep early this morning, Thursday, December 18th 2008.
He was 46 years old, much, much too young.

We will miss your sweet smile, your quick wit and all your invaluable advice.

May peace and love be with you My Darling.

Tough Guys

2008-12-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

Murray S.W.A.T. Team
These guys are all heroes.
They are willing to risk their lives to keep us safe.
They are Ricks Brothers and he is theirs.

These are some VERY Tough Guys who could easily defeat almost any threat.
Except one. Pancreatic cancer.
Rick is still fighting, but I am so, so sad to say that he is losing his fight.

Please keep praying for him. Love and peace to all.

Secret Santa

2008-12-17T13:58:00.000-08:00

For those of you who heard it, wasn't it just heartwarming and sweet?
If you missed it you can still check out the podcast.

http://www.971zht.com/pages/secretsanta/index.html

Thank you so much Meg. Thinking of our family for secret Santa was extremely thoughtful.
It means so much to us at this difficult time. Thanks also to Jake and Brian.

More Friends and Family

2008-12-15T21:21:00.000-08:00

We clean up nice

2008-12-15T21:13:00.000-08:00

2nd Opinion at Huntsman's

2008-12-12T21:14:00.000-08:00

We made it to Huntsman Cancer Institute yesterday and met with the pancreatic cancer specialist. She was very nice and informative and explained a lot of things to us. She went over a few options for pancreatic cancer treatment, the most effective being Gemzar chemotherapy which is what Rick has already tried with no success. Any of the other things they could try would make Rick terribly sick and not offer much benefit at all. Basically, pancreatic cancer laughs in the face of every known treatment.

There is one clinical trial that Rick may be eligible for which is basically 2 oral medications taken once a day and the good thing about it is that it shouldn’t make him any more nauseous than he is already and he would only have to visit the doctor once a month. The down side is that he would have to have another PET scan before he could start the study and he would have to visit the doctor once a month.

Before we can even decide about whether or not to participate in the trial we have to wait for some blood results. However, as of 2 weeks ago his numbers were borderline for the clinical trial criteria so I would be surprised if they haven’t gone up too high for the trial since then.

Of course Rick and I both want to do SOMETHING, ANYTHING, to fight this. However, visiting the doctors and having the procedures done is really taking a huge toll on Rick. He is getting more exhausted and incoherent daily. He’s sleeping more and more each day, around 15 or 16 hours a day. He seems to be much more comfortable at home and is very confused about why I keep dragging him out of the house for all these doctors and hospitals. That is why, after a lot of thought and advice from people I deeply trust, I’ve decided that we need to start home health care. It was a very, very hard decision to make but one that I absolutely think is the right decision. I don’t feel like we’re giving up, but rather surrendering so that we may have peace.

I know that a lot of you aren’t sure whether to call or not, come visit or not, but I would like to let our friends and family know that our doors are open and if you would like to come say hi to Rick please feel free to stop by for a quick visit. He may be asleep, but then again he may be awake just long enough to say Hi :)

FYI - Rick’s phone is turned off and temporarily lost, so if you’ve been calling him and he’s ignoring you, please don’t take it personally. Call me instead and I’ll answer if I can.

Love to All

Friends

2008-12-12T16:02:00.005-08:00

Nerve Block Update

2008-12-10T21:27:00.002-08:00

Rick had the nerve block procedure done today.
It was just a quick little 10 hour trip to the hospital. When we got there at noon, they got him right into a room and started a saline drip in his port. When I commented that I was glad that they were able to get this procedure scheduled so quickly, they said "Oh yeah, we have a slow day today." Then they tested his blood for clotting factor and it came back high, which sounds good, but is really bad. A normal level is 1.0 and his was 2.5, which means that it would take his blood 2.5 times longer to clot than normal. So the nurse came in and told me that it was too high to do the procedure.

But since Rick was so dehydrated, the nurse wanted to keep him long enough to re-hydrate, which I was all for. In the meantime, they discovered that it was actually a little patient mix-up, and that Rick could have the procedure after all. Rick was having a "Celiac Plexus Block" and not a "Cervix Block", which another patient was having done. Apparently you CAN have the Celiac block with thin blood but NOT the Cervix block. I was just happy that he could get the procedure!

So we were back on.

Then an emergency patient came in, so we waited. Then the Cervix block patient went in, so we waited. Then at 5:30 Rick went in and came out just after 7:00. Then we waited some more. And I'm happy to report that we are now home and Rick is resting. The surgery went well and his initial report of his pain level is that it went from an 8 before the block and about 4 or 5 after. FINALLY, some good news!!

I'm tired...I'm going to sleep for a week now! Love to you all!

Nerve Block

2008-12-09T16:45:00.000-08:00

Rick's pain level has increased dramatically in the last week, so he is taking more and more pain medication, which leaves him tired and incoherent all the time, which is annoying the crap out of him. He gets so frustrated because it takes him so long to say what he wants to say or do even the simplest task. Then it only frustrates him more (and me) when I try to help. It's gotten to the point that I can't leave him alone.

Today we met with a Radiologist who will perform a procedure called a Celiac Plexus Block or Neurolysis on Rick sometime later this week or early next week. It is a fairly low risk outpatient procedure that will permanently damage the nerve cluster that is near his pancreas. With any luck, this nerve block should reduce his pain in the abdomen.

I really hope this procedure works well so that he can be more clear-headed AND more comfortable at the same time, instead of choosing one or the other.

We are meeting with the new Oncologist at the Huntsman on Thursday.
Sorry to be so brief, I'll add more later.

Cancer Update

2008-12-05T14:38:00.000-08:00

When we first looked into the Cyberknife about 6 or 7 weeks ago we had high hopes that maybe it could somehow be a cure for Rick's cancer. When we first met with the doctor he seemed optimistic that after 3 or 6 weeks of chemo followed by radiation with the cyberknife that Rick had a chance of fighting this.

The latest news is that the Radiation Therapist feels that at the rate the cancer is spreading the cyberknife would not be effective enough, fast enough. As he explained, treating the tumors in the liver or lungs is not even an option because there are just too many. Treating only the the large tumor in the pancreas in hopes of shrinking it in order to ease the pain it is causing, would not be fast enough for Rick to see much pain relief, basically it would be too much too late.

Also, Rick's Oncologist has no plans for any further treatment at this time. He wants Rick to "Be at peace with his maker". So basically two of our doctors have given up.

However, we are not quite ready to give up just yet. Rick still has a whole list of "honeydews".

We have an appointment with an oncologist who specializes in pancreatic cancer at the Huntsman Cancer Institute next week for a second opinion and a different oncologist at The Utah Cancer Specialists for a third opinion the following week. We are also going to see a radiologist who could perform a nerve ablation in the area of the largest tumor that would provide some much needed immediate pain relief.

Even though this isn't encouraging, we still have a little fight left in us! Keep us in your prayers and send any extra good energy you have our way and we'll put it to good use!!

Rick and Bev No Kids - heheh

2008-12-04T21:04:00.000-08:00

Christmas at Wade And Amys!!

At the NHRA Races in Las Vegas, That was the year we
hit the big jackpot...I think it was about $200...Woo Hoo!!

Golfing at World Class Bear Lake Golf Course

Bevvie - Happy at Snowbird- probaly drinking beer
at Oktoberfest!

More Snowbird - God I sure like that Rick Dude!

Even when he looks like a drug dealer...hahaha...
more bear lake

Casino Night Success

2008-12-04T19:25:00.000-08:00

Casino Night was a big success!
18 days ago these 5 guys hung out, in this garage, drinking beer, and decided they needed to do something for their good friend and Peacemaker Brother Rick...a.k.a. Nympho :o
SO...The idea of a poker game was brought up and it ballooned from there.

Thanks again to Dave, Scotty, Jay, Jake and Brian, and Rick the CUTE yellow man in the middle there and wife Bev. Peacemakers Forever (I'm only a peacemaker wife so I'm not really allowed to know what the codes are all about...lol...but it is evident that the Peacemaker Brotherhood is strong)

Their creative efforts and hard work resulted in contributions from friends, family, coworkers and even a few people who don't even know us, and will make our financial situation throughout this difficult and stressful time just a little bit easier to deal with.

Because of the generosity of our wonderful friends we have a little less to worry about where medical bills and short paychecks are concerned.

I want to express how much Rick and I appreciate all the support we recieved and the overwhelming emotion that we felt on that night!

It is impossible to put into words just how much love and caring we felt that night and we're still feeling almost every day from our friends.

There are so many people to thank that I couldn't even begin to acknowledge everyone who contributed, however I do want to say that the "Thank you" list is at least as LONG as the GUEST LIST and for those of you who didn't get an opportunity to show up and/or to fill out the guest list at casino night...Please Please Please know that you are very much loved and appreciated. And we'd absolutely Love to have you stop by and sign it, it WILL mean ALOT to us someday!

Once again I would like to thank EVERYONE who showed support and is still giving us so much hope and encouragement in these difficult times. Keep the good karma flowin our way :)

CANCER SUCKS.!!!!!!!!!!
RICK ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My TV news debut

2008-11-27T09:45:00.000-08:00

Some of you know of our 68 Camaro convertible that I have been restoring at a snails pace over the last two to three years. Bev will argue that it's been longer.

We had a lot of fun in the car but it came time to give the car the TLC that it deserved, that's when my portion of the restoration started. This is the car just after I started tearing it down.
Note the rusted inner fender and the drum brakes.

I decided that during the restoration I would make the car more drivable for Bev by adding power disc brakes and power steering. This picture is with the motor setting in and the disc brakes half done.

In this lower picture you can see the brakes are on and the power steering is in place.

During this whole thing I was mistaken that the body was in pretty good condition still. But upon pulling back the carpet I found rust through the floors.

You can even see the rust holes from this satellite view.

Once I came across this body and paint problem, I contacted Chris Purdum, a friend I have known for years that owns a restoration shop. I asked him to evaluate the body and paint of the car to see what was involved. This is also about the same time I got the news of my cancer. When I told Chris about the Cancer, I guess he came up with some ideas of his own.

I was contacted by Terry Wood of channel 4 news who said he would like to do a story about me and the car. Apparently Chris had contacted him about the project.

Terry came out to our house and asked some questions about the car, my Police career and meth lab exposure.

Terry did what I thought was a great broadcast that reminded the public about the Officers out there sick and suffering from job related exposures.

Here are the links to the original broadcast which aired on Tuesday and the followup on Wednesday.

http://www.abc4.com/content/news/slc/story.aspx?content_id=f676521b-8e16-4bdb-beec-8b424fd9bb57

http://www.abc4.com/content/news/slc/story.aspx?content_id=d5a429e7-ae97-4915-86f8-95f1bfe8c725

At the same time Chris and his wife Kelly added a page about me on their web site www.customsandclassics.com explaining my career, the cancer and the car project.

2008-11-26T10:06:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to show off our grandson Braden. He's 10 months old now, VERY mobile and extremely smart...of course lol!
Yes we are proud Grandparents and think he is THE CUTEST BABY IN THE WORLD!!!!!!

Cancer update / Cyber Knife?

2008-11-24T12:20:00.000-08:00

On Friday morning I had an appointment with the Cancer Doc and his news wasn't the best. My blood test results showed my Bilirubin was high and Tumor markers were off the chart. I have had two Doctors say they have never seen tumor markers this high. Normal range is 0-35, my number is 687,333. I really don't know what that means but it sounds really nasty. He has suspended my chemotherapy for now believing I'm not responding to the treatment. Today, Monday, I had an appointment with a Doctor regarding a Cyber Knife. This is focused radiation where they place "Gold Seeds" on the edges of the tumor and the Cyber Knife will track it and localize the radiation just to that spot within the Seeds. Prior to this, the Doctor wanted an additional PET scan to see what the progression of the cancer was before he made a final decision on the knife. I'm scheduled for the scan on Wednesday. With any luck I'll start that process soon.

CASINO NIGHT!!!!

2008-11-22T09:11:00.000-08:00

First of all I want to thank everyone one who attended Casino Night last night. I also want to thank those who made it happen. And a special thanks to those ladies who prepared and served the food all evening.

I think it was alot of fun for everyone and I can't say enough how I Love you all for your support. The whole thing was overwhelming to me and I had a great time and was glad I was able to be there as long as I was. Although I have been dealt some pretty crappy cards lately (just a little casino night pun), I think I am the most fortunate man alive in the friend and family department and last night was just another example.

I also wanted to thank Jake Huggard for conducting the raffle and Keith Lowry for conducting the auction which appeared to be a real success.

Bev has been missing a great deal of work to be with me during my office visits and procedures and the co-pays and prescriptions seem to get more costly out of pocket. The money raised last night will be used specifically for those purposes.

Special thanks to Sheri, Carla, Toni and Shae.

Family Pics

2008-11-20T05:54:00.000-08:00

What a Cutie!!!

Shortly after Rick's cancer diagnosis, one of the first things he decided we needed to do was to spend the weekend with all the kids at our condo timeshare up at Snowbird.

Even though we'd recently spent a very nice week-long vacation there in July, suddenly it seemed necessary again.

Here are a few family pictures taken in October at Snowbird. Boy, is it hard to get all the kids together in the same place, at the same time, with combed hair, and not overly grumpy! Luckily we managed to get it done with very little grumpiness, lots of good smiles and unlimited patience from Linda, our photographer.

Jared 13, Danny 20, Breanna 12, Rick 46, Bev 29, Brandon 17, Derrick 21

The Whole Clan-including the newest DuKatz, Braden 8 months old

Rick and his favorite girls

Rick and his favorite men

Bev and her FAVORITE SWEETIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cancer update BARD port

2008-11-19T18:58:00.000-08:00

Well today I got my BARD Power port installed. They certainly take their time in the hospital to do it. We were there six hours and the procedure took a half hour. They made two incisions. One at the shoulder chest area to put the port in and the other to tuck the other end into my Jugular in my neck. As much as they have been poking me with needles, this may be a welcome doo-datter for that. We asked the Doc if Bev could watch the procedure being they were using the BARD port. He hesitantly agreed and she had to scrub up and watched the whole procedure from inside the O.R. And she didn't even faint. All seemed to go well and I suspect Bev is making a commission on this because she reassures me that it was the thing to do and says it will be worth it.

Cancer update Cont.

2008-11-18T14:55:00.000-08:00

I just got word that on Wednesday I'm to get a Port to make IV Chemo and Blood draws easier. I guess this is a devise that just goes under the skin in the chest/shoulder area and the needles are stuck into that instead of me. They said plan on spending 5-6 hours at the hospital for this procedure. These ports are exactly what Bev deals with at her work so you can believe that if I made any mistakes in it's description, my next entry will contain corrections if needed. I will make another entry about how this goes tomorrow or the next day.

Great Friends!!

2008-11-18T11:47:00.000-08:00

I have to say that Rick has the BEST FRIENDS EVER!
There are just TOO MANY to even count, but I'd like to tell you about a couple of them.

This is Rick's friend Jim's 2008 C6 corvette.
The other day Jim just brought it over and told Rick to "Put some miles on it."
WOW!!!
Now that is one great friend to have! And you can be sure that anytime Rick feels ok, he is ALL ABOUT driving the sweet vette!! We took it to the Oncologist on Friday lol.
We're planning a little cruise to Park City just as soon as Rick feels up to it, but it's getting low on gas... if we can just figure out how to get Jim to put some more gas in it......

Brian is another ABSOLUTELY GREAT friend of Ricks.
He was the coordinator of the cement project, with alot of help from Jake too. Brian and Jake brought together all those wonderful guys at Murray PD to get the cement project done...and it even looks good...lol!
BIG Shout Out to Murray PD! Wierd...I usually don't much like cops.......jk

As if the cement project wasn't enough, Murray PD, coordinated once again by Brian, is having a get-together this Friday night in Rick's honor.

The theme is "Casino Night" with dinner, drinks, prizes and an auction. It will be held Friday, November 21st at St Josephs Church located at 7405 South Redwood Road, from 6 pm to midnight.

$20 Donation at the door includes dinner, a drink and $5 in chips.

I have to admit that I felt a little wierd when I first heard about it, but a friend of ours said "Don't freak out about it...it'll be fun...like a party with a purpose." Okay, it was T who said that...another great friend :)

So....after stressing a little bit about it....I'm down with it.
It will give Rick a chance to see everyone who has been wishing him well and wanting to say hi to him, but just hasn't known when would be a good time.

We have LOTS of great friends and we'd love to see them all Friday night :)

Rick's cancer update cont.

2008-11-14T16:22:00.001-08:00

Today, 11-14-2008, For the first time we received good news from my Doctor about this cancer. Last week during my visit it was discussed that I may not be responding to the chemo as hoped. However today after looking at my blood work he appeared more optimistic and felt I was responding slowly. This means instead of discontinuing the chemo and having the cyber knife localized radiation to reduce the pain and start palliative care, I am to continue the chemo on Friday the 21st. Of course this means more of the same nausea stuff but I guess that's better than the alternative. Until then I have a week to try to recover from the last three weeks of that crap. I'll keep you all up to date as we go along. Thanks friends, Rick

Our Anniversary

2008-11-13T07:16:00.000-08:00

Sunday November 9th was our 23rd Anniversary! I know, we don't look old enough to be married for 23 years...but I did the math...not Rick hehe :)

Rick and I had a pretty enjoyable day just spending time together, but I gotta tell ya...it wasn't quite as good as our 20th anniversary when we celebrated in Beautiful Fiji!

With any luck, we're going to celebrate our 25th anniversary in Fiji again. Please keep your fingers crossed that Rick will be up for some world travel in two years :)

Here's our most current picture, which was taken by Linda (from Rick's work) who did an excellent job taking pictures of our whole family a few weeks ago...Thanks Linda!

I'll post some of the whole family soon.

Also a few pics from our Fiji vacation below.

Rick's cancer Update

2008-11-12T16:28:00.000-08:00

So much has happened so fast that our heads are spinning. There are countless emotions about us as you can imagine.

The Cancer part of my life started as me having some back pain and seeking help for it.

In 1993 I was involved in a traffic accident that herniated and bulged two discs in my center back between my shoulder blades. They said that surgery was not a matter of if, just when. The procedure at the time involved going through the chest so I opted to put off the surgery and treat the pain through chiropractic and physical therapy means.

Lately my back pain had been growing more severe and along with it was a slight stomach ache accompanied with slight nausea. This didn't concern me either because I had some of what I thought was food poisoning and I thought it was a lingering affect of that.

In the first week of October 2008, I went to the doctor because the back pain was so severe I was willing to do surgery or whatever it took for relief. I made an appointment and the standard care was muscle relaxers and physical therapy to alleviate the pain. Ant-acids where given for the stomach. After a week I went back to the Doctor and let them know I was feeling no relief.

On Monday October 13th, I went for an endoscopy to see if the stomach pain may be related to the throat or esophagus. The scope showed normal with only minor acid-reflux.

During my visit the following day, My Doctor sent me to a neighboring office that had an ultra sound on site. They did a quick scope thinking that the gallbladder my be acting up because of a rise in the enzymes put out by the liver. The scope showed the gallbladder was fine but they say something suspicious with the liver.

My Doctor immediately scheduled me a CT scan for the next day (Tuesday) and we went to the old Cottonwood Hospital TOSH for this. I was called in the Doctors office that afternoon where the Doctor told me it looked like I had Cancer in the pancreas, liver and lungs. The CT report read, "An ill-defined 2.7 cm X 4.4 cm lesion within the body of the pancreas. Innumerable hypodense masses of varying sizes scattered throughout the liver which are concerning for metastatic disease. Two small lung nodules, as described above. These are also concerning for metastatic disease."

An appointment was made for the following day at the new IMC hospital for a biopsy of the suspected area within the liver.

On Friday October, 17th 2008, I was informed that the biopsy was indeed cancerous and an appointment for treatment mas made for the following Monday.

On Monday I went to the Utah cancer Specialists where they looked over my CT scans and devised a program for treatment. This consisted of Chemotherapy involving an IV chemo called Gemcitabine. In addition with that I opted to take part in a study which included a pill four times a day for four days. I guess pancreatic cancer has a reputation for resisting chemo and this Gemcitabine was developed specifically for pancreatic cancer. The pill is called RP101 and I think it's to assist the chemo with fighting the cancer cells. Not exactly sure, but I do know that they both make me miserable sick. During this visit they also scheduled me for a PET scan and another CT scan for higher in the lung area.

Bev and I tried to go to Vegas the weekend of the 31st, to attend the NHRA races which I've had tickets for four months to attend. Due to the chemo, I was too sick to even leave the hotel room and never even made it to races.

On our next visit to the caner Doc, he gave me the results of the PET scan saying that the cancer is spread throughout my body and he's questioning how well I'm responding to the chemotherapy. They plan on another CT to determine the response of the chemo to see if it's doing what it is supposed to be doing.

In the event that the chemo is not battling back the cancer, they will stop the chemo and try a procedure called a "Cyber knife". During this they would use localized radiation and target the pancreas in an attempt to reduce the size of the lesion and reduce some of the pain caused by it.

The concrete job

2008-11-08T17:43:00.000-08:00

After telling some friends that I had to put all my projects on hold due to my recent cancer diagnosis, this is how they responded.

I was told that there were some people coming out to pour cement for a project I had started, but I had no idea it would be this.

Then again, I know the character of these people and should not be be a bit suprised that the reponse was what it turned out to be.

I had an appointment the morning of the pour but upon arriving back home found an impressively well done slab with a few still working the finish. They stayed as late as they could and even came back the following morning to finish the cuts.

I can't even begin to express what I felt that day and still do everytime I walk outside and see the new concrete.

The crew exsisted of approximately 30 people and all of which I can call friends.

Here are a few pics from that day

The blog begins

2008-11-05T11:52:00.000-08:00

This is the first blog of many to come...